MEL/CLA Director – Niger Resilience Food Security Activity

The Position is contingent on new funding

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To create a better world, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.

Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps began work in Niger in 2005 in response to the severe food crisis at that time.

Our programming has since expanded to include a focus on early recovery, food security, resilient

livelihoods, peace and good governance, financial inclusion, and youth economic opportunity, along with continued humanitarian response. Drawing on a skilled team of more than 135 colleagues, Mercy Corps has assisted more than one million vulnerable Nigeriens as well as Malian and Nigerian refugees over the years. We currently work in the regions of Niamey, Tahoua, Tillaberi, and Maradi, and implement cross-border programming with Mali and Burkina Faso.

Mercy Corps is seeking a qualified Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)/ Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) Director to lead the MEL/CLA Team responsible for implementation of the MEL plan, systems, and related learning and research activities for an anticipated, five-year USAID Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Niger. The Activity will contribute to food and nutrition security for households and communities in vulnerable areas of Niger.

General Position Summary 

The MEL/CLA Director is a member of the Activity’s senior management team and will be responsible for designing, managing, and implementing Activity MEL and CLA systems, as well as a quality assurance mechanism and potential research activities. The ME/CLA Director will play a key role in ensuring high quality of program implementation by providing timely and accurate analyses for adaptive management and data-based decision making. This role will also be responsible for leading the approach and mechanisms to ensure a holistic, meaningful, and localized CLA approach throughout the life cycle of the program and in close coordination with program technical leads, partners, and stakeholders. Support to information management, reporting, and technology applications will be key. The MEL/CLA Director may also oversee a team of research, learning, data, and technology experts, and will need to ensure coordination with other relevant programs and initiatives. The MEL/CLA Director is responsible for capacity building and mentoring for program staff on themes related to MEL, CLA, reporting, and accountability to participants and stakeholders.

Essential Job Responsibilities

MEL/CLA MANAGEMENT & TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP

●        Design and revise strategic MEL documents, including the MEL Plan, learning agenda, theory of change, performance indicator reference sheets, logframe, indicator performance tracking table, data protection standard operating procedures, and sex and age disaggregation plans.

●        Set up and oversee all MEL system components, including protocols and data flows for monitoring and evaluation, data and information management, MEL budgets, staffing, competency building, and technology systems.

●        Design and oversee the implementation of participant-based surveys, including the scope of work, sampling strategies, questionnaires, statistical processing, and analysis.

●        Promote CLA through intentional and routine learning initiatives to share, discuss, and use monitoring data; document and disseminate lessons learned and evaluation findings; and advise program management to implement program improvements informed by data.

●        Oversee and/or coordinate research and learning initiatives by staff or partners to contribute to the Activity’s learning and adaptation needs.

●        Champion the inclusion of qualitative data collection and analysis for both direct and supplemental measurements of program performance.

●        Ensure that the Chief of Party is alerted to any issues that prevent full implementation of the Activity in line with the Theory of Change.

●        Ensure the RFSA adheres to all applicable USAID and Mercy Corps MEL policies.

DATA & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

●        Design and oversee the setup of an information management system, including processes and technology solutions for data collection, storage, processing, analysis, visualization, and reporting for all Activity indicators as well as additional data needs for learning, adaptation and reporting. Actively seek out opportunities for automatization and efficiency gains in information management.

●        Design and implement data flows that align indicator definitions, tool matrices, databases. and sampling frames to ensure traceable, timely, comprehensive, high-quality and demand-responsive data collection and processing in compliance with USAID and Mercy Corps requirements.

●        Ensure data quality in all aspects of MEL by conducting periodic DQAs and integrating corrections and remedies as necessary to align with Mercy Corps’ and USAID data protection and MEL standards.

TEAM MANAGEMENT & CAPACITY BUILDING

●        Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect, accountability, and clearly communicated expectations where team members strive and are equipped with the resources to achieve excellence.

●        Develop and oversee the implementation of a career development strategy for MEL and partner staff that promotes MEL competencies and a culture of learning through systematic analysis and reflection of program data.

●        Actively provide mentorship and training to program and MEL teams to improve their competencies in quantitative methods, qualitative methods, information management, critical thinking, data communication, problem solving, facilitation, and data literacy.

●        Train teams in appropriate qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, including surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews, and lead qualitative data collection in participating communities as needed.

INTERNAL & EXTERNAL COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION

●        Represent Mercy Corps in MEL/CLA forums with the broader humanitarian and development community.

●        Develop positive working relationships and coordinate/collaborate with partner organizations and national and international agencies active in the target areas.

●        Conduct due diligence of partner MEL systems and processes, including data collection, processing, analysis, and reporting, and organize periodic workshops and sharing sessions, ensuring that partners are equipped with adequate resources and systems to contribute rigorous data to the overall Activity.

●        Collaborate closely with HQ- or region-based MEL and research teams and lead and/or collaborate with external evaluators on the design and roll out of the program baseline and evaluations, while setting up effective systems for learning.

●        Contribute to Mercy Corps’ country-wide Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism (CARM) by assisting in the design of an Activity CARM Plan and supporting functioning of CARM channels.

Supervisory Responsibility

Supervises Activity MEL/CLA Team. The number of direct and indirect reports will be determined at a later stage.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Chief of Party

Works Directly With: Activity senior management and technical leadership team; Activity MEL/CLA and research staff; Mercy Corps’ Country MEL team; Mercy Corps’ HQ Regional Program Team; Mercy Corps HQ Technical Resources and Quality Unit including Evidence and Learning Team; and partner organizations.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of our projects.

Knowledge and Experience / Qualifications and Transferable Skills

●        MA/S or equivalent experience in a quantitative field (economics, agricultural/development economics, statistics, biostatistics, nutrition, applied sociology, anthropology, or other relevant field) with significant training in quantitative methods.

●        At least seven years (or at least 10 years with a BA/S) of relevant experience leading MEL of multi-year development or resilience awards. The candidate must have experience leading a MEL team of a large, integrated program, with at least five years based in a country program.

●        Strong conceptual knowledge about theories of change, logic models, food and nutrition security indicators, MEL plans, data quality assurance, mobile data collection, data utilization, and integration of resilience, gender, and youth in MEL.

●        Demonstrated experience and expertise in developing and operationalizing comprehensive Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plans.

●        Strong quantitative background and demonstrated expertise in designing annual monitoring surveys including probabilistic sampling strategy and estimating sample size, developing appropriate weights, and analyzing quantitative data.

●        Demonstrated expertise in designing qualitative studies, in-depth knowledge about qualitative sampling, and experience using interview and interactive tools to generate qualitative information and analysis.

●        Demonstrated experience in participatory community governance, advocacy, capacity and leadership development, and/or management and use of grassroots level-generated data.

●        Experienced in developing data quality assurance strategies, data management, and data visualization.

●        Demonstrated expertise in data utilization strategies, with the ability to think creatively think about active data sharing techniques.

●        Preference for experience with USAID MEL frameworks and an in-depth understanding of food security programming.

●        Experience supporting partner organizations to ensure quality of their MEL systems.

●        Prior humanitarian and/or development experience working in a context similar to Niger.

●        Fluent oral and written French.

●        Strong oral and written English language skills are highly desired.

●        Excellent skills in software solutions and platforms for data collection, storage, processing, analysis, and visualization, such as MS Office, CommCare, Stata, R, and Power BI.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles and cultures, follow procedures, and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, multi-task, prioritize, take initiative, be accountable for results, and understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details. S/he will be comfortable working within a complex and sensitive setting and following laws and security protocols. The MEL/CLA Director will have a strong understanding of adaptive management, stakeholder engagement, capacity strengthening, and conflict-sensitive approaches. The most successful Mercy Corps team members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions 

The MEL/CLA Director will be based in Niamey with regular travel within Niger. Staff in Niamey have good access to essential services, such as medical care, electricity, and water. This position requires up to 50% of travel by road or air to field locations, some with potential security considerations and/or climatically harsh conditions. The position is not accompanied but is eligible for R&R and hardship pay. This position requires obtaining medical clearance through the successful completion of a medical assessment by an external third party prior to deployment and following any medical evacuation if applicable. If you are not medically cleared and Mercy Corps cannot reasonably accommodate a medical condition if required, you may not be able to deploy for/return to this position.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs, and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. 

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. 

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.